Gunners warned off Villa by Barca

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has warned Arsenal to forget about signing striker David Villa during the January transfer window.

The Gunners are expected to strengthen their squad this month, having already offloaded Moroccan misfit Marouane Chamakh on a six-month loan deal to West Ham.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is said to be keen on Villa, who was a substitute for Barcelona’s 4-0 win over Espanyol at the weekend.

Rosell, however, maintains the 31-year-old is going nowhere.

Rosell said: “I completely rule out the transfer of Villa during the winter market.

The news will be a blow to Wenger, who yesterday reiterated that Arsenal will only move in the January transfer window for the right player.

While Wenger has been linked with a string of reinforcements from Villa, Atletico Madrid frontman Adrian Lopez, Anderlecht’s Argentina midfielder Lucas Biglia, Yann M’Vila from Rennes and even former captain Thierry Henry on loan again, the Arsenal manager maintains he will only be tempted should a player of the required quality become available.

“We are on the market and if we find the right players, we will do something”, Wenger said.

Sao Paulo, meanwhile, are confident they can turn Denilson’s loan move into a permanent transfer.

Arsenal now head into a crucial run of fixtures which could define their season.

Following a dramatic 2-2 draw at Swansea in the FA Cup, the Gunners face a replay next week just a few days after Premier League champions Man City come to the Emirates.

Arsenal then travel to Chelsea on January 20, before tackling West Ham in their rearranged St Stephen’s Day fixture, which is followed by a possible FA Cup fourth-round tie at Brighton ahead of the visit of Liverpool.

Defender Per Mertesacker feels the Gunners can meet their busy schedule head on. He said: “We are in a good way but we have to keep our focus on these games and the knockout stages of the Champions League. We have to win those games now,” the German centre-back said.

“We are always looking to win something and we can achieve something with this group. We have a lively group so our thoughts are now on the next match, that is the most important thing for us, not what’s going to happen in May.

“We have a few targets in our team that are possible this year. We won’t talk about it, we’ll just see what happens in the next few important weeks on the pitch.”